Whether "on" is necessary in this case

Question

I am wondering which one below is grammatical:

• I sing a song every ride.
• I sing a song on every ride.

So I guess the question boils down to whether "on every ride" servers as a preposition here?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Recurrent units of time do not need a preposition:

• I wake up every morning.
• I work every day.
• I sleep every night.
• Take one pill every hour.

Your second sentence is definitely correct, and the first one is, at worst, only incorrect in a pedantic sense because it treats a ride as a time-signifying recurrence; it is essentially saying, "I sing a song every time I take a ride."

• We argue every meal.
• We argue during every meal.
• We sat next to each other every bus ride.
• We sat next to each other on every bus ride.

In each case, the second sentence is more strictly correct than the first, but they are both completely understandable. I would see them as differences in style.

Omitting the preposition is more common in American English than other dialects. See this question about omitting prepositions of time in American English.